Key skill: tackling

Key skill: tackling

Jargon buster – tackling In soccer, "tackling" is stealing the ball from an opponent or knocking it out of play. Unlike American football, soccer players are not allowed to grab their opponent or knock them over. It is also against the laws of the game to attempt to tackle the ball carrier from behind or, in the opinion of the referee, to be too aggressive.

Most young children seem to know how to tackle instinctively – if you tell a child who has never played soccer before to go and get the ball from another player, they will attempt to tackle them.
A timid player, however, will shy away from tackles or, worse, go in half-heartedly.

Coaching tip: When teaching skills and technique, I find it helps to give young players key words they can remember easily. In today's article, the key words are in bold type.

To give our timid players the confidence they need in a tackling situation, we need to tell our players that quite often they don't even need to try to take the ball away from an opponent.
It's just as effective to delay an attacker advancing to your goal until help arrives or shepherd them towards the sideline where their options are limited.
Practice this in a 1v1 situation. Pair up players of a similar disposition (timid v timid) and put them in a small grid with a goal at each end. Start the players in the goals. One player (the defender) passes a ball to the other (the attacker). As soon as the attacker receives the ball, the defender runs towards him to close him down quickly.
Tell the defender that they are not to tackle the attacker. Instead, they win the contest if they can simply delay the attacker for 20 seconds – in a match, that's plenty of time for help to arrive.
You also need to tell your players to be patient. Tell them to watch the ball (not the attacker) and don't even try to dispossess their opponent unless they lose close contact with the ball. Then go and get the ball quickly and firmly.
The best way to practise this is for you or an assistant to play the role of an attacker with poor ball control!
Take your timid player to a grid with a goal at one end and dribble the ball towards him. Remind the player to be patient and guide you away from the goal. After a few seconds allow the ball to get away from you. If the player doesn't recognise this as the moment to strike, stop the exercise to explain the opportunity they missed and try again.
Keep practising until your player steps in immediately you lose control of the ball.

Remember that you're trying to boost your timid player's self confidence so give lots of praise for small improvements.

When the player consistently recognises the right moment to tackle, you can bring in a team mate for him to practice with.